Along with its tenth anniversary, Guild Wars 2 will soon be released on Valve’s Steam platform.
Accessible for almost ten years through a dedicated client downloadable from the official ArenaNet website, Guild Wars 2 will be available from August 23 on Steam :
Players will be able to experience the base game of Guild Wars 2 for free (with the same restrictions as free accounts created on GuildWars2.com), with options to upgrade to Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire and Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons from launch day. We’ve taken your feedback into consideration to better communicate the Living World unlock to potential players, so we’re also creating a Complete Collection Pack that includes Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire, Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons and Living World Seasons 2-5 (Living World Season 1 being free to everyone). The Complete Collection won’t be immediately available to players outside of Valve’s platform, but we’ll be working to add it to our web store and in-game store for players who have created their account on GuildWars2.com soon. . (Note: Current Guild Wars 2 accounts cannot be linked to Steam, or vice versa. Visit our Knowledge Base for more information.) Additionally, we will make it clear on our Steam page that Living World Seasons must be purchased separately from extensions.
Guild Wars 2 Steam version arrives with improvements
The American studio ArenaNet (NCsoft) worked for many months on the development of technical innovations and gameplay improvements for new players to celebrate the arrival of Guild Wars 2 on Steam in the best conditions:
To make the most of the launch on Steam, we’ve been working on improvements to the new player experience over the past few months. We’ve improved the leveling rate, updated the default options and keys to be more convenient, added several sets of new achievements that guide players to level 80, added a trial period of raptor mount as soon as players reach level 10 (which becomes a permanent unlock upon purchasing an expansion), adjusted level up rewards and boost to level 80, updated start content gameplay, such as world bosses, with redesigned mechanics and tutorials, simplified dungeon currencies and improved their rewards, easier access to raid content, added accessibility options, improved player experience in instances in Story Mode, revamped fractal instabilities, improved raid and strike mission rewards and currencies, removed tedious mechanics like gear repair, fixed several long-standing bugs, and implemented DirectX11 to improve game performance. We also released the first three episodes of Living World Season 1, giving players a better understanding of the story as they embark on later content. The fourth episode will be released on September 13.
Ten Years to Celebrate for Guild Wars 2
In addition to the Steam launch, ArenaNet will be hosting a Guild Wars 2 10th Anniversary event. Players will be able to experience new achievements related to various aspects of the game, including World Bosses, Expansion Quests, Living World Quests, PVP, and more. By completing these feats, players will earn Proofs of Legend, which can be used to obtain the new Decade Armor Set when players have enough to complete the trade. The progress of the various reward circuits will also be increased by 30% during the anniversary event.